Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.7.36–37

Pradyumna: Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. [Prabhupāda and devotees repeat] [chants verse]

Pradyumna: [leads chanting]

mattaṁ pramattam unmattaṁ suptaṁ bālaṁ striyaṁ jaḍam prapannaṁ virathaṁ bhītaṁ na ripuṁ hanti dharma-vit [SB 1.7.36]

[03:27]

Translation: "A person who knows the principles of religion does not kill an enemy who is careless, intoxicated, insane, asleep, afraid, or devoid of his chariot. Nor does he kill a boy, a woman, a foolish creature or a surrendered soul."

sva-prāṅān yaḥ para-prāṅaiḥ prapuṣṅāty aghṛṅaḥ khalaḥ tad-vadhas tasya hi śreyo yad-doṣād yāty adhaḥ pumān [SB 1.7.37]

[04:39]

Translation: "A cruel and wretched person who maintains his existence at the cost of others' lives deserves to be killed for his own well-being; otherwise he will go down by his own actions."

Prabhupāda:

mattaṁ pramattam unmattaṁ suptaṁ bālaṁ striyaṁ jaḍam prapannaṁ virathaṁ bhītaṁ na ripuṁ hanti dharma-vit [SB 1.7.36]

So kṣatriya's fight, it is not ordinary fight like cats and dogs. The cats and dogs also fight, and the kṣatriyas in the battlefield of Kurukṣetra, under the guidance of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, they are not the same. Sometimes in the foreign countries, they do not know. They simply know fight means cats' and dogs' fight. No. Therefore they question that why Kṛṣṅa induced Arjuna to fight? Certainly they do not know there is fight on the principle of religion. That is real fight. Otherwise, fight whimsically, that is animals' fight, cats' and dogs' fight.

So when there is fight on religious principles, there are different rules and regulation. One has to observe these rules and regulations. Just like striking the enemy, it should not come down the waist. You can strike the enemy from head to the waist, not below that. That is illegal. Similarly, when the enemy is like this, matta, pramatta, unmatta, one after another... Matta means careless, inattentive. So if by chance, by inattentiveness, one does something wrong, he should not be considered as enemy. He's careless. He should be chastised, but not... Even if he's enemy, he's not subjected to being killed. No. Similarly, pramatta. Pramatta means constitutionally he's not mad, but by some external influence one has become madlike. He's called pramatta. Just like in this material world almost everyone, 99.9 percent, they are all pramattas.

For example, pramattaḥ tasya nidhanaṁ paśyann api na paśyati [SB 2.1.4].

[Persons devoid of ātma-tattva do not inquire into the problems of life, being too attached to the fallible soldiers like the body, children and wife. Although sufficiently experienced, they still do not see their inevitable destruction.]

In the Bhāgavata it is said that we are depending, we are thinking, "I am sure." Why? "Now I have got very good wife. I am sure to live very peacefully, or happily," or "I shall not die because I have got very good wife, faithful wife." Similarly, "I have got very good husband or very good friend," or "I am born in a very big nation," so on, so on. Security. Because security is a problem. Everyone in this material world, they have got four problems: how to eat, how to sleep, how to have sex and how to become secure. Security. The animal is also working very hard for these four principles, and the man is also working very hard. That is common. But that is not security. "Because I have got very good means of living, very good means of sleeping, nice house, and very good wife and very good bank balance and good government, therefore I am secure." That is nonsense. Pramatta. That is called pramatta, when he does not know that at any moment Yamarāja can come and kick him out from this position. At any moment. Mṛtyuḥ sarva-haraś ca aham [Bg 10.34].

[I am all-devouring death, and I am the generator of all things yet to be. Among women I am fame, fortune, speech, memory, intelligence, faithfulness and patience.]

Yamarāja is the representative of Kṛṣṅa, a servant of Kṛṣṅa. He is Vaiṣṅava. Yamarāja..., we are very much afraid of Yamarāja, but he is Vaiṣṅava. Not only Vaiṣṅava, but he's one of the mahājanas. Mahājano yena gataḥ sa panthāḥ [Cc Madhya 17.186].

[Dry arguments are inconclusive. A great personality whose opinion does not differ from others is not considered a great sage. Simply by studying the Vedas, which are variegated, one cannot come to the right path by which religious principles are understood. The solid truth of religious principles is hidden in the heart of an unadulterated self-realized person. Consequently, as the śāstras confirm, one should accept whatever progressive path the mahājanas advocate.]

He's mahājana in this sense: all the sinful living entities are brought before him, and according to the gravity of criminality, sinful action, he punishes. Just like magistrate. Magistrate, before the magistrate all criminals are brought in, and he considers the gravity of the case, and according to the case, somebody is hanged, somebody is put into the jail for three years, somebody for six years, somebody for six months. That is Yamarāja's duty. So that is... He's also dharma-vit. His name is Dharmarāja. Not that because he is punishing... Simply his only business is to punish. But still he's Dharmarāja, dharma-vit. He knows how to punish a person on religious principles.

So we are, in this material world, we are pramatta. We are thinking, "These material conditions will save me." That is pramatta—half-mad, crazy. Pramatta. We are thinking, dehāpatya-kalatrādiṣu [SB 2.1.4].

I am thinking "I am very strong body..." [break] ...cannot achieve self-realization. Now some of our big sannyāsīs, he took it that unless you become very strong and stout by eating meat and exercise, gymnastics, you cannot understand spiritual life. This is their interpretation. But that is not the fact. Bala, bala means Balarāma. Do you think that because you are very strong and stout, a big wrestler with muscles, you'll live? No. For Yamarāja there is no consideration that "Here is a weak person, lean and thin, and here is a very strong person; therefore the strong person should be left over and the lean and thin will be taken to Yamarāja." No. When the time will come, the lean and thin may be spared, but the strong man may be immediately taken. So this rascaldom, that by exercise... People are very much attached to the body. We have seen everywhere, especially in European, they are very much attached to make the body stout and strong. And in the morning you'll find... Here also you'll find. They're running to make the body str..., as if the strong body will save him from death. This is rascaldom. Therefore pramatta. Crazy. We do not say that you remain very weak and lean and thin. No. You should maintain this body properly, but not that that is my only business, how to maintain this body. That is pramatta. These are some of the examples of pramatta. He does not know. Pramatta.

Dehāpatya-kalatrādiṣu [SB 2.1.4]. Deha, body. One is feeling secure, "I have got very strong body. I shall live forever." Rascal. Pramatta. That is not possible. Deha and apatya. Apatya means sons. "Oh, I have got so many nice sons, very earning, very obedient; therefore Yamarāja will not touch me." No, no. That is not possible. There is a very joking story in Bengal, gaye gum akale jam care na[?]. Gu means stool. So one intelligent person, he thought, "I shall be freed from the touch of Yamarāja by one tactics." What is that? "Stool is very obnoxious. Nobody comes to stool. So let me smear my body, whole body, with stool so that Yamarāja will not come and touch me." Gaya muk gum akale jam care na[?]. This is another pramatta. [chuckles] That crazy fellow, that he is thinking, "By keeping myself dirty and obnoxious, Yamarāja is gentleman, he'll not come and touch me," this is another pramatta.

So deha apatya kalatra. Kalatra means wife. "Oh, I have got such a nice wife, and she'll pray to Yamarāja, 'Please excuse my husband.' " Just like Nala-Damayantī. Not... What is that? Sāvitrī-Satyavān. The Sāvitrī saved her husband from the hands of Yamarāja. That's a long story. It will take much time. So therefore, "I have got such a nice chaste wife, she will save me from the Yamarāja hands." Then I can speak shortly that Sāvitrī-Satyavān... Satyavān was to die on the marriage day. But Sāvitrī was attached to Satyavān, so her father, mother said that "You don't marry this boy. He'll die on the very day of his marriage." So love is blind. She said, "Still I shall marry him." So she married, and the husband died. So Yamarāja came. So she pleased the Yamarāja, and Yamarāja, being pleased, said, "My dear girl, you'll have a very good son"—because every girl expects some son. So Yamarāja gave him [her] the benediction that "You will have very nice son." Then the husband was dead, and... No, she prayed for a good son, yes. And Yamarāja gave him [her] benediction, "Yes, you'll have good son." First of all she pleased Yamarāja by prayers, and then Yamarāja asked, "What do you want?" "A very good son." "All right, you'll have a good son." So then the Yamarāja was taking her husband, and she was going behind. Then Yamarāja said, "Your husband cannot be returned. He is dead. And it is my duty, I am taking. Why you are coming, following me?" Now, "You said that I will have a son. So if you are taking my husband, how he will have son?" So Yamarāja came to his senses, [laughter] that "I have done a mistake." Then "All right, take your husband."

So these are rare instances. But don't think that because you are very clever and..., you'll be untouched by Yamarāja. No, no, no. Dehāpatya-kalatrādiṣu asatsu [SB 2.1.4].

Asat. Nobody will stay. Asat. This material world is like that. Asat means temporary, everything. This body is temporary. Your body is temporary, this life is temporary. Tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ [Bg 2.13],

[As the embodied soul continually passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. The self-realized soul is not bewildered by such a change.]

Kṛṣṅa says. You'll have to change this body. It may be for fifty years, sixty years, utmost hundred years, but still, you have to change this body. Therefore asat. Asato mā sad gama. This is Vedic instruction. Don't be attached to this asat, temporary things. That is called vairāgya. Vairāgya-vidyā-nija-bhakti-yogam [Cc Madhya 6.254]. If one wants to learn how to become vairāgī, no attachment for this material..., then he must take to devotional service. Vairāgya-vidyā-nija-bhakti-yogam. That is, bhakti-yoga means vairāgya, no attachment for this material world. One who is actually attached to Kṛṣṅa, he must be no attachment for this material world. That is the sign. Automatically. The jñānīs, the yogīs or the karmīs, they do not want this no attachment. They want more and more attachment. The jñānīs, they want brahma satyaṁ jagan mithyā—detachment. But bhakta, without any endeavor, because he develops attachment for Kṛṣṅa, he automatically gives up attachment for this material world. Bhaktiḥ pareśānubhavo viraktir anyatra syāt [SB 11.2.42].

[Devotion, direct experience of the Supreme Lord, and detachment from other things—these three occur simultaneously for one who has taken shelter of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, in the same way that pleasure, nourishment and relief from hunger come simultaneously and increasingly, with each bite, for a person engaged in eating.]

This is the symptom how one has become attached with this material world. If I am trying under the, I mean to say, cover of becoming bhakta and trying to gather some material profit, that is not bhakti. That is very dangerous.

So in this way there are so many things in the material world, we take it for acceptance that these things will save me. He's a pramatta. Pramatta means crazy, half-mad. And full mad is unmatta, full mad. He becomes naked. That is one of the symptoms of unmatta—he'll remain naked. So these men, matta, pramatta, unmatta... Just see how the rules and regulation are there. So this pramatta: dehāpatya-kalatrādiṣv asatsv api teṣāṁ nidhanaṁ paśyann api na paśyati [SB 2.1.4].

Pramatta, that word is used. Pramattaḥ tasya nidhanaṁ paśyann api na paśyati. He is seeing every day that "This gentleman had very good wife, this gentleman had very nice son, very good family—but they are dying." So who will protect him? He's thinking that "My children, my wife, my friends will save me," but they have died. So how he will be protected?

So nobody can protect anyone. That is not possible. Everyone has to take care of himself. This world is like that. Don't depend. Only Kṛṣṅa can protect you—nobody else. If you know this, then you are not pramatta. And if you do not know this, if you are a rascal, then you are pramatta. Only Kṛṣṅa. Kṛṣṅa therefore said, He gives assurance, that sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṅaṁ vraja [Bg 18.66]. Suhṛdaṁ sarva-bhūtānām [Bg 5.29]:

[The sages, knowing Me as the ultimate purpose of all sacrifices and austerities, the Supreme Lord of all planets and demigods and the benefactor and well-wisher of all living entities, attain peace from the pangs of material miseries.]

"I am the friend of everyone. I can give you protection." Ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo mokṣayiṣyāmi. So you have to take shelter of Kṛṣṅa; otherwise you are a pramatta, rascal, mūḍha. Kṛṣṅa is giving advice that "Do this." But we are rascals, pramatta. We think that "My son will give me protection, my wife will give protection, my friend will give me protection, my government will give protection." All these are nonsense, pramatta. This is the meaning of pramatta. Just try to understand. Pramattaḥ tasya nidhanaṁ paśyann api.

Another pramatta is that those who are mad after sense gratification. Nūnaṁ pramattaḥ kurute vikarma [SB 5.5.4]. There is another verse, nūnaṁ pramattaḥ. Those who are pramatta, those who have no responsibility of life, sometimes unnecessarily stealing and doing some..., so many wrong things... Vikarma. Why? Now pramatta, he is also crazy. Nūnaṁ pramattaḥ kurute vikarma [SB 5.5.4]. And why he is taking risk of being punished? Suppose one man is stealing. He'll be punished. Either by the laws of the state or by the laws of nature, or God, he'll be punished. He can escape the laws of the state, but he cannot escape the laws of nature, or God. Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṅāni guṅaiḥ karmāṅi [Bg 3.27].

[The bewildered spirit soul, under the influence of the three modes of material nature, thinks himself to be the doer of activities, which are in actuality carried out by nature.]

It is not possible. Just like the laws of nature: If you infect some disease, so you'll have to be punished. You'll suffer from that disease. That is punishment. You cannot escape. Similarly, anything you do, kāraṅaṁ guṅa-saṅgo 'sya [Bg 13.22]. If you live like a cat and dog, that is infection, guṅa, the modes of ignorance. Then your next life you become a dog. You must be punished. This is law of nature.

So therefore one who does not know all these laws, he commits so many sinful activities, vikarma. Karma, vikarma, akarma. Karma means what is prescribed. Guṅa-karma. Guṅa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ [Bg 4.13].

[According to the three modes of material nature and the work ascribed to them, the four divisions of human society were created by Me. And, although I am the creator of this system, you should know that I am yet the non-doer, being unchangeable.]

Karma means, as it is said in the śāstra, as you have developed a certain type of modes of nature, your karma is according to that: brāhmaṅa-karma, kṣatriya-karma, vaiśya-karma. So if you follow... That is the duty of the spiritual master and śāstra, to designate, when he's brahmacārī, that "You work like this." "You work like a brāhmaṅa," "You work like a kṣatriya," "You work like a vaiśya," and others, "Śūdra." So this division is made by the spiritual master. How? Yasya yal lakṣaṅaṁ proktaṁ varṅābhivyañjakam [SB 7.11.35].

[If one shows the symptoms of being a brāhmaṅa, kṣatriya, vaiśya or śūdra, as described above, even if he has appeared in a different class, he should be accepted according to those symptoms of classification.]

The spiritual master will say that "You work like this." So that should be determined. That is karma, guṅa-karma. Spiritual master sees that he has these qualities. That is natural. Just like in the school, college, somebody is being trained up as a scientist, somebody is trained up as an engineer, as a medical man, as a lawyer. According to the tendency, practical psychology of the student, he is advised that "You take this line." Similarly, these four divisions of the society, it is very scientific. So by the instruction of the guru, when he's in the gurukula, he will be specified a particular type of duty, and if he does it faithfully... Sva-karmaṅā tam abhyarcya [Bg 18.46]. The real purpose is Kṛṣṅa consciousness. And according to his guṅa and karma he's engaged in a particular occupational duty.

Nothing is bad provided it is meant for Kṛṣṅa's satisfaction. Ataḥ pumbhir dvija-śreṣṭhā varṅāśrama-vibhāgaśaḥ [SB 1.2.13].

[O best among the twice-born, it is therefore concluded that the highest perfection one can achieve by discharging the duties prescribed for one's own occupation according to caste divisions and orders of life is to please the Personality of Godhead.]

The varṅāśrama-vibhāga must be there. But what is the aim of varṅāśrama? Simply by becoming a brāhmaṅa he's successful? No. Nobody can become successful unless he satisfies Kṛṣṅa. That is real success. Just like Arjuna did. By the military art, he satisfied Kṛṣṅa. Similarly, by your vaiśya-vṛtti, kṛṣi-go-rakṣya-vāṅijyam [Bg 18.44],

[Farming, cow protection and business are the qualities of work for the vaiśyas, and for the śūdras there is labor and service to others.]

you can satisfy Kṛṣṅa. By your brāhmaṅa-vṛtti you can satisfy Kṛṣṅa. Even by your śūdra-vṛtti you can satisfy Kṛṣṅa. That possibility is here, that Kṛṣṅa says, sva-karmaṅā tam abhyarcya. The aim should be how to satisfy Kṛṣṅa. Doesn't matter whether you are a brāhmaṅa or a kṣatriya. Kṛṣṅa confirms it: api cet su-durācāraḥ..., no, māṁ hi pārtha vyapāśritya ye 'pi syuḥ pāpa-yonayaḥ [Bg 9.32].

[O son of Pṛthā, those who take shelter in Me, though they be of lower birth—women, vaiśyas [merchants], as well as śūdras [workers]—can approach the supreme destination.]

Pāpa-yoni means below the vaiśyas, the śūdra, they are pāpa-yonis. Vaiśyas also. Striyo śūdrās tathā vaiśyās te 'pi yānti parāṁ gatim. So there is no impediment to approach Kṛṣṅa because you are a śūdra or caṅḍāla or woman or vaiśya. No. Everyone can. That facility is there. Therefore our duty should be, "Never mind in whichever position I am posted. Let me satisfy Kṛṣṅa." It is not that... Suppose we are worshiping Deity—that is the duty of brāhmaṅa—but somebody is called that "You cleanse this floor." So he should not think that "I am cleansing the floor; therefore I am lower than the person who is directly worshiping the Deity." No. Kṛṣṅa's pleasure wanted. If Kṛṣṅa sees that by washing the floor you are doing very nicely, Kṛṣṅa is pleased: "Oh, you are nice." Similarly, one man is decorating Kṛṣṅa with garland and... If Kṛṣṅa is pleased, that is the main point. Not that because you are on the Deity room you are very elevated, and the other man who is cleansing the door, he is not elevated. No. Śrī-vigrahārādhana-nitya-nānā-śṛṅgāra-tan-mandira-mārjanādau**. They are all equal. In whichever position you are, simply your endeavor should be how to please Kṛṣṅa. That is wanted. Sva-karmaṅā tam abhyarcya [Bg 18.46].

Also it is said, ataḥ pumbhir dvija-śreṣṭhā varṅāśrama-vibhāgaśaḥ. Because generally we take divisions, varṅa and āśrama. So Sūta Gosvāmī says in the meeting of Naimiṣāraṅya, ataḥ pumbhir dvija-śreṣṭhāḥ. They are all big, big, very learned scholars and brāhmaṅas, so they are addressing, dvija-śreṣṭhāḥ. Dvija means brāhmaṅa, kṣatriya, vaiśya. One who has got the right to take the sacred thread, they are called dvijas. But out of the three, brāhmaṅa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, the brāhmaṅa is called dvija-śreṣṭha. Therefore he addressed,

ataḥ pumbhir dvija-śreṣṭhā varṅāśrama-vibhāgaśaḥ svanuṣṭhitasya dharmasya saṁsiddhir hari-toṣaṅam [SB 1.2.13]

Saṁsiddhi. Never mind what you are. Either you may be sannyāsī or may be gṛhastha or may be brahmacārī or a brāhmaṅa, a kṣatriya or vaiśya, śūdra. Never mind. Try to satisfy Kṛṣṅa. Try to please Kṛṣṅa. Then your life is successful. Otherwise, you are pramatta, mad. Nūnaṁ pramattaḥ kurute vikarma [SB 5.5.4]. So long you shall remain a pramatta, you shall act just opposite function, and you'll be entangled. Therefore in the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, yajñārthe karmaṅaḥ anyatra karma-bandhanaḥ. If you do not work for pleasing Kṛṣṅa, then that work will entangle you in the cycle of birth and death.

Thank you very much.

Devotees: Jaya Prabhupāda. [end]